In today’s bustling landscape of modern air travel, keeping passengers satisfied is key—requiring airports to provide seamless wireless connectivity to visitors, while ensuring operational excellence behind the scenes. The Harry Reid International Airport hosts over 57 million entertainment seekers, conference attendees, and sport fans every year—many expecting flawless connectivity from the moment they step off the plane. An additional 18,000 airport workers rely on Harry Reid International’s internal wireless network for a wide variety of tasks ranging from flight information (air traffic) services to baggage tracking via IoT sensor data transmission.
With such high demands on the network, how does Rishma Khimji, the airport’s CITO, ensure the continuous high levels of connectivity that has helped Harry Reid earn top JD Power ratings for airport satisfaction—even during huge usage spikes from the influx of airport visitors for events like the Super Bowl?
Advanced Wi-Fi to support a wide range of guest and operational device connections
“We had nearly 104,000 passengers the Monday after the Super Bowl breaking our previous highest record.” – Rishma Khimji, CITO, Harry Reid International Airport
To support such huge connectivity requirements, the airport rolled out HPE Aruba Networking Wi-Fi 6E infrastructure, ensuring passengers have the reliability and speed they need for their ever-more-sophisticated devices and bandwidth-hungry applications. The system is designed to offer capacity and security that scales during increased wireless demand from visitors arriving in Las Vegas to attend the Super Bowl, Formula 1, CES, and for New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Wi-Fi 6E connectivity also plays a critical role in optimizing operational efficiency and ensuring seamless day-to-day operations. IoT sensors in the airport’s baggage handling system, security cameras, power distribution units, and the HVAC system all depend on Wi-Fi 6E for reliable, secure data transmission.
Khimji uses Wi-Fi 6E’s built-in location services to generate connectivity heat maps to better understand how passengers are interacting with the airport and how to improve their experience. She plans to use it in the future to monitor traffic patterns of passengers throughout the airport to avoid network capacity constraints and to adapt when flights don’t stay on schedule.
To segment the guest network from the operations network and securely authenticate devices that access the network, the airport relies on HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass and plans to expand its functionality in the future.
Looking forward: private 5G, sustainability, and meeting evolving expectations
“What I'm most excited about is private 5G, the private LTE and the CBRS space, and it makes me excited that HP or [HPE Aruba Networking] has a private LTE service” – Rishma Khimji
Combining private 5G and Wi-Fi provides a comprehensive wireless solution—ensuring connectivity even in the most remote locations. Khimji is in the process of evaluating private 5G solutions to eliminate Wi-Fi dead spots on the airport’s tram system when the tram is underground. One of her main criteria for choosing a private 5G solution? One that overcomes the complex installation that private 5G is known for. Down the road, private 5G may be used to bring connectivity to futuristic use cases like autonomous vehicles, tugs, and jet bridges.
Sustainability is an important goal too, now and into the future. Power usage is already being monitored via IoT devices to redistribute resources throughout the facility as needed—and in the future, the airport’s water supply will be managed the same way.
Why HPE Aruba Networking?
“It’s critical for us to deliver fast, reliable, and safe connectivity to our guests and our operational systems. With HPE Aruba Networking, we have the future-ready Wi-Fi and cybersecurity infrastructure critical to meeting all of guest experience goals.”
Khimji credits both the quality of wireless solutions from HPE Aruba Networking and the trust built with our account teams for the success of the partnership. To retain its high levels of passenger satisfaction, new ways to leverage technology must be continuously explored to enhance the passenger experience and optimize operational efficiency. With a strong partnership in place, Rishma Khimji and her team at the Harry Reid International Airport are well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of guests while setting new standards of excellence for airport management and connectivity.
For more information
HPE Aruba Networking Wi-Fi 6E Access Points
HPE Aruba Networking Outdoor Access Points
HPE Aruba Networking AirWave
HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass
HPE Aruba Networking User Experience Insight (UXI)
